Need your help convincing DW what weights might be acceptable.
Would appreciate hearing from experienced trailerists that have towed for many years/miles.
Our TT below weighs 4400# empty, and 4980# loaded BUT attached to TV. The GVWR is 4800#, so IMO we exceed the GVWR by only 180# even though the actual weight in the TT is more because about 350# gets transferred to TV when attached. Do most of you agree? As a side note, we did break a spring after the TT was about 15 years old!
But here's the advice I really need. We are looking to buy a newer TT, and are argueing about the MINIMUM ccc that we need over and above the filled water tanks. We know that our total weight carried (GCWR) between a loaded TT & TV and an empty TT (I mean completely empty) & truck is about 1200#. That's how much stuff we take on a big trip.
When loaded for a big trip and attached to TV, the extra weight ON the trailer is 580#, but somewhere I figured we actually have about 950# in the TT.
We saw one trailer that only had a CCC of 1000# or thereabouts. Considering that we have been RVing for years with a CCC of 400# on our existing trailer, I figure 1000# should be adequate EVEN if we actually have 1300# of stuff in the TT so long as we are under the GCVW WHEN attached.
So, is the total weight in the TT critical when its not moving and free standing, OR is the more critical weight going down the road when things are moving around????
Your feedback please, gentlemen!
2004 Yukon XL K1500 w/ 5.3L & 3.73 diff.
1989 22ft. Wilderness TT @ 5500# loaded
Member: TTN, Escapees, Good Sam
Just retired, will travel!
I don't claim to be an expert on this but I think you are incorrect. Total weight is total weight and it has nothing to do with how much is on the wheels or tongue. The frame of the TT is still carrying the total weight and you are asking too much of it. If you have a high quality, heavily built TT I suppose you might get away with it, but the way build things today I sure wouldn't trust it. I would want to make sure I'm at least 10% or 20% below those total weight figures.
Again, no expert and no real survey but when I read these forums my own guess is that a majority (certainly not all!)of problems with tires, springs, and frames come from loading the trailer to heavy. The manufacturers really push the limit on how strong they build TT's these days.
2008 Keystone Springdale 252
2004 Chevy Silverado, 5.3 L V8
Prodigy brake control and Equal-i-zer
Retired and traveling all we can!
I agree with Earl, the GVWR is just that, the GVWR for the trailer, what the trailer weighs. Your current trailer weighs 350lbs more than is on the axles, even though the axles don't carry that 350lbs your truck does.
As a side note I have read about trailers with axles that won't handle the GVWR of the trailer because the tounge weight is carried by the truck.
Jeff
2009 Rockwood Signature Ultra Light 8317SS
2004 Dodge Ram 1500 QC LB Hemi
DW Kelly and DD
Still Searching....Your 04 Yukon XL K1500 W/5.3L/3.73 axle should be rated to tow 7,100 as a 2WD and 7,000 as a 4WD. If you are equipped with a towing package, it will be rated on the hitch. It should tell you what the hitch is rated with out a WD Hitch and with a WD Hitch. Same for the tongue weight. Don't go over these rating. Subtract 10% from your vehicle tow rating for a safety factor and you should have what you can safely tow. Don't forget a Brake Control for the Trailer. That's about it in a nut shell.
Happy Camping
2007 Chev. Silverado CrewCab 4x4
6.0L Vortex Max
3.73 Rear Axle Ratio
Prodigy Brake Control
Equalizer Hitch
Champion 4000/3500 30A RV Gen.
Garmin 7200 GPS
2008 31E Jayco Feather LGT
UVW6225 GVW7850
The brochure of a 1995 Fleetwood Wilderness, that I used to have was claiming a new rating and load rating that took into effect options and a better load carrying capability. (1630 lbs CCC)
About this time (1995) the RV manufactures must of made some changes as this is about when the CCC stickers started appearing inside the RV's
I have also had heard, that a lot of earlier TT, had almost no cargo capacity as they weighed empty, or as delivered, were at are near their GVWR.
You will want at least 1500 lbs CCC, and if you tend or think you carry more than the average, you will want more.
According to Dutchmen in my 2004 bent frame issue, the GVWR, is the total hitch weight, and the weight on the wheels.
Watch the Axle ratings on any TT you are looking at. In my TT hunts since the 1995 Wilderness, mostly it is just some of the real light weight TT's are CCC challenged now a days
2005 2500 Avalanche
2004 30' Terry Quantum 290FLS
Equal-i-zer,Prodigy
Calgary Alberta
coolbreeze01 wrote: Weight is weight. Separate or together. You're the boss, do what you want. Add a tackle box or not. Have fun.
I agree that I wouldn't give it a second thought while its unhitched & remember that the weight that is normally resting on the TV through the hitch is now on the ground via the tounge jack.
Comments on the frame is good and could be very important in some of these lite wt. engineered frame trailer such as the Dutchman Aero-Lite, but what I look at is what is the listed dry wt. tongue wt., the axle ratings, tire ratings, and the GVWR listed for the trailer. For example my current trailer has 3500lb axles, 205x14C ST tires (1870 per tire at 50psi), a dry tongue weight of 704 and a TT GVWR of 7604. So for my TT at the GVWR rating they most likely are looking at around 6,900 on the axles and 704 on the hitch. Thus I would be very comfortable with 1,000lbs tongue wt. and 6800-6900 on the axles which would put me several hundred pounds over the actual GVWR for the trailer, but my frame is not one of the engineered ones and is a good I-beam thick frame. If you find a major disconnect between the expected 10% ot 12% GVWR for tongue wt. when added to the axle and tire ratings over the GVWR of the TT then it might will be a frame limited issue and then be very cautious.
Larry
2001 standard box 7.3L E-350 PSD Van with 4.10 rear and 2007 Holiday Rambler Aluma-Lite 8306S Been RV'ing since 1974. TRAILER MODS
you are wrong and what they the mfg's. are pushing is wrong...
if you are buying a new trailer and are smart and apparently most of us aren't, you would upgrade the tires and axles if not the whole chassis to at least one level higher than standard... that will be about the proper size axles for the trailer...
if I decide to keep mine I am changing my axles to 7,000# instead of the 5,200# it has now...
Love my mass produced, entry level, built by Lazy American Workers, Hornet
Still Searchin' wrote: Need your help convincing DW what weights might be acceptable.
Would appreciate hearing from experienced trailerists that have towed for many years/miles.
Our TT below weighs 4400# empty, and 4980# loaded BUT attached to TV I'm assuming your weights are from the scale not a brochure and a guess. If NOT then you DO need actual weights.. The GVWR is 4800#, so IMO we exceed the GVWR by only 180# even though the actual weight in the TT is more because about 350# gets transferred to TV when attached. Do most of you agree? As a side note, we did break a spring after the TT was about 15 years old! Weight transfer is NOT subtracted or ADDED to anything when computing capabilities. The weight of the trailer when standing unhitched is the weight that counts toward your capacities AND GVWR NEVER changes whether you're hitched up or not. GVWR is what the label says it is.
But here's the advice I really need. We are looking to buy a newer TT, and are argueing about the MINIMUM ccc that we need over and above the filled water tanks. We know that our total weight carried (GCWR) between a loaded TT & TV and an empty TT (I mean completely empty) & truck is about 1200#. That's how much stuff we take on a big trip. GCWR has NOTHING to do with what you carry anywhere. It is the maximum amount your trailer and tow vehicle is allowed to weigh and keep any warranty in effect on your tow vehicle. The amount you can carry is the trailers GVWR with it's ACTUAL weight subtracted from it. While we're on the subject I have NEVER seen any hard sided travel trailer that weighed only 500 lb. more loaded then when empty (unless you actually weighed to get the empty weight) Brochure weights UVW do not even include optional equipment and it is very rare for a trailer not to weigh at least 300 lb. more just from optional equipment. Even a small tank of water (black, gray or fresh) will weigh a quarter of what you say your total weight is.
When loaded for a big trip and attached to TV, the extra weight ON the trailer is 580#, but somewhere I figured we actually have about 950# in the TT.
We saw one trailer that only had a CCC of 1000# or thereabouts. Considering that we have been RVing for years with a CCC of 400# on our existing trailer, I figure 1000# should be adequate EVEN if we actually have 1300# of stuff in the TT so long as we are under the GCVW WHEN attached.
So, is the total weight in the TT critical when its not moving and free standing, OR is the more critical weight going down the road when things are moving around????
Your feedback please, gentlemen!
I'd have to say that EITHER I don't understand where and what your figures are or your calculations are gibberish. Odds are about 50/50 for either option but so many assumptions you mention are just WRONG.
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